Illinois voters on Tuesday will cast ballots in a historic contest pitting two African-Americans seeking a seat in the U.S. Senate, a decision that will immediately cast the winner in a national political leadership role as the anticipated lone black voice in one of the world’s most exclusive clubs.
Eighteen months ago, when Republican Sen. Peter Fitzgerald announced he was giving up his seat, virtually no one in Illinois politics would have imagined that the Senate race would come down to Democrat Barack Obama and Republican Alan Keyes, who wasn’t even from the state.
But in a campaign unusual even by Illinois standards, it was a combination of luck, timing, confusion and that most domestic of issues–divorce–that created a matchup that will result in only the third African-American since Reconstruction entering the Senate.
Obama jumped into the race in January 2003, and there was little reason then to think the obscure South Side state senator would prevail in a crowded primary field.
That same month, Alan Keyes, an unsuccessful 2000 Republican presidential candidate and a recently canceled cable-TV talk show host, was voted by readers of Church Executive magazine as one of the nation’s 50 most influential Christians.
Both find themselves on the ballot largely due to the missteps of multimillionaire candidates brought down by their divorce files.
On the Democratic side, Blair Hull was the early favorite to win the primary largely because he used $30 million of his own money to bankroll a media campaign that none of his six challengers could match.
But his lead rapidly unraveled after the Tribune revealed that one of Hull’s ex-wives, Brenda Sexton, had once obtained an order of protection against him. Under pressure, he released previously sealed divorce files that showed Sexton had once accused him of verbal and physical abuse.
Obama had been an eloquent but largely undistinguished voice in the campaign for months. But in that time he was able to put together a powerful coalition of African-American voters and white liberals.
In the end, Obama captured more than 50 percent of the primary vote, a difficult feat in such a crowded candidate field.
Republicans chose Jack Ryan from among eight candidates, many of them millionaires and most of them conservative. Ryan won the primary even though he was battling rumors about what was contained in the sealed files of his own divorce from TV actress Jeri Ryan.
When a California judge unsealed portions of the records June 21, upon a request led by the Tribune, Ryan’s days as the Republican nominee were numbered. In the file, Ryan’s ex-wife accused him of taking her to sex clubs and trying to coerce her to perform sexual acts in front of strangers.
The damage was done, and Ryan dropped out of the race four days later.
Republicans, however, lacked a backup candidate. Several names were floated as a successor nominee, including former Gov. Jim Edgar, former Illinois First Lady Jayne Thompson, state Sens. Kirk Dillard of Hinsdale and Steve Rauschenberger of Elgin, and even former Chicago Bears coach Mike Ditka. All declined.
With August rolling around, the Republican State Central Committee offered the job to Keyes, a man with a reputation for firebrand conservative oratory. Though Obama’s star was rising, conservatives believed at the very least that Keyes could attract some of the black vote while helping Downstate legislative candidates woo conservative voters.
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Edited by Patrick Olsen (polsen@tribune.com) and Drew Sottardi (dsottardi@tribune.com)
